Better be home soon
A Top Gun: Maverick Fanfiction
Pairing: Pete Mitchell and Penny Benjamin
Characters: Pete Mitchell, Penny Benjamin, Bradley Bradshaw, Amelia Benjamin
Mentioned: Mark Peterson (Amelia's father - Name I created) Iceman, Goose.
Chapter one
It had been three years since Penny had seen or heard from Pete and she wasn't sure when she would again so she had settled into the realisation that this was her life.. Single mother of a teenager and a bar owner.. She didn't feel ready to date again, as much as she hated to admit it sometimes, her heart would always belong to Pete.
Ever since she was a young teenager, he had managed to capture her heart, and her inner wild child and while she had other men during her years, Pete was always just the one who got away. Anytime she heard he was with a new woman, she automatically felt a little jealous, but she was always the one he seemed to come back to over the years.
Apart of her knew that she was waiting for him which is why she was not planning on settling with anyone else, her daughter adored him, and so did her dog Theo, and it was hard to not think about what it would be like if he stayed in one place for more then a minute.
It was why she had been surprised to see him back in her bar, she hadn't been expecting him but it was a welcomed surprise at that. Her heart was still able to skip a beat whenever she saw him, and he gave her that look.. She tried to set rules and boundaries this time, but even she knew she wouldn't be able to follow them. She had told him they should start this time, but her heart was singing a different tune the her head. The day on the boat had been incredible and she had come home feeling like he had swept her off her feet all over again and she knew she was falling all over again for him, though one could argue, she had never fallen out of love with him.
Then seeing him on the beach with his students playing dog fight football, she knew she would never be able to resist him this time if he took her home. She stayed outside on a picnic bench doing her paperwork for the Hard Deck, but secretly she was mostly just watching Pete as he bonded with his students getting them to become a team. He had asked her out afterwards and she knew there no way she could refuse him this time, letting him come inside.. Being with him again, she felt like a teenager herself, but it wasn't just about the sex, they talked about their lives and she could sense then that things seemed different with Pete. He already seemed more invested.
"You know I love you Mom, and I just want to see you happy right?", Amelia asked her mother the night she had caught Pete going out the window.
She smiled, hugged her daughter as she made her dinner and nodded.. "I know you do, and I don't know.. Something does seem different about him this time, and I want to believe that he will stay this time". Amelia had been hurt by him too, she never saw her own father, he wasn't apart of her life, so Pete was like her surrogate father, and while she was still a little mad at him, she also wanted to believe as well that Pete would be there for them both this time.
"Mom?", she asked Penny cautiously, "Is it wrong to love Pete more than I love Dad?" When Penny heard that question from her teenage daughter, she sighed softly and shook her head.. As much as Penny loved Pete, She had thought she was moving on from from him and so she had been all in with Amelia's father, Mark Peterson, they were engaged, and then she became pregnant and he became distant, she finally caught him cheating on her with another woman, and after that Penny couldn't stand to stay with him, despite him begging for her forgiveness..
The worst part of it, was after she shot down his apologies and he realised she wasn't going to give him another chance, he said he didn't want a thing to do with his daughter, and now he was married to the woman he cheated on her with, and they lived in Hawaii with his wife and kids. His relationship was a little better now with Amelia, enough to trade birthday and holiday cards and for her to vacation in Hawaii every now and then but if she had to admit it to herself, she did like knowing that Amelia loved Pete more then her own father.
He had been there for her more than Mark ever had been, celebrating birthdays, milestones, taking her places, even when Penny and Pete's relationship broke down time after time, he always made sure he called Amelia and checked in on her. She smiled softly and hugged her daughter, "Honestly?", she asked looking at Amelia, "No, I don't think it is wrong.. Pete's been there for you more than your father ever has been, how many father/daughter dances on the Navy bases and even your school dances did Pete take you to when you were little. He's been to your dance recitals, and your softball matches, even stayed and looked after you that one time when you had chicken pox and I couldn't get time off work.. Your 'father' might have helped create you, but Pete has been more your 'Dad'.
It's why it hurt to know he was leaving on another dangerous mission, she didn't know much about it.. She was used to everything being 'classified'. Her father used that word a lot when she was younger and so did Pete whenever he couldn't disclose a mission or where he was going. She had known him majority of her life at this point and loved him more than she ever thought it possible to love someone, someone who loved her daughter like his own even though he didn't have to. She had been there to comfort him through losing his wingman Ice and soon as soon as she saw him in walk in the Hard Deck in his dress whites, she knew it was serious, and that was leaving again.
"𝑊𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑃𝑒𝑡𝑒, 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒".
Had been one of the last things she said to him before he left, and she meant it.. She had never directly said it to him before, but now she wanted him to know if he didn't come home that both her and Amelia loved him.
